Natural disasters in the UK such as flooding, animal diseases, swine flu and terrorist events both at home and abroad have vividly demonstrated the need for plans to be in place to deal with emergencies. These plans help agencies and emergency services react efficiently.
It's easy to think of ourselves as away from danger zones, but planning how to deal with emergencies, encouraging our communities to develop their own local resilience, and supporting businesses and other local organisations to adopt business continuity arrangements, are the keystones of effective emergency planning.
Planning and training for emergencies do have a cost, but the cost in lives and to the economy would be far higher without them.
The fire that swept through part of the Center Parcs complex at Elveden in April 2002 caused devastation. Fire fighting continued for two days. The recovery phase ended with the complex reopening in July 2003. The estimated cost of the damage was in excess of £45 million. We may be called to help other authorities in a major emergency and we need to be prepared to cope with situations such as bad weather, prolonged power loss in cold spells, evacuations from fires or similar incidents, or disruptions to transport networks.
These Emergency Planning pages will help you to be informed and prepared and will reinforce the need for resilience: the ability of communities and businesses to minimise the impacts of emergencies before they occur and recover more readily when those situations have taken place.
For further information, visit Suffolk Resilience or contact your local Emergency Planning Officer for the West of Suffolk or the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit on 01473 265321.
In an emergency, where life, property or the environment is at risk, dial 999 and ask for the appropriate emergency service.
